Baseball ignores cockfighting link to players allegedly betting on games

Players gambling on any sporting event violates major league rule in effect since 1876

            NEW YORK,  N.Y.––If Major League Baseball did not already know it has a gambling problem,  associated with open tolerance of players’ involvement in cockfighting,  the indictment testimony of an informant identified only as Bettor-1 introduced in Brooklyn,  New York federal court on January 12,  2026 should have made the point specifically clear.

Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase de la Cruz,  known by the surname Clase,  and Luis Ortiz are charged with wire fraud conspiracy,  honest services wire fraud conspiracy,  conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery,  and money laundering conspiracy.

Rule 21

Major League Baseball Rule 21,  in effect since major league baseball began in 1876,  stipulates in present form,  “Any player,  umpire,  or Club or League official or employee who operates or works for an illegal bookmaking business shall be subject to a minimum of a one-year suspension by the Commissioner.  For purposes of this provision,  an illegal bookmaker is an individual who accepts, places or handles wagers on sporting events from members of the public as part of a gaming operation that is unlawful in the jurisdiction in which the bets are accepted.”

The same rule also applies to minor league baseball players.

Since cockfighting is illegal within the U.S. and all U.S. territories,  and in every state as well,  and since betting and cockfighting go together like the stink on excrement,  any participation in cockfighting whatever by any professional baseball player is cause for a minimum suspension of at least one year.

Greats banned & suspended,  but no penalty for cockfighters

Professional baseball takes Rule 21 so seriously,  in cases not involving cockfighting,  that players as prominent as Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose have been banned for life.  Hall of Famers including Willie Mays,  Mickey Mantle,  and Leo Durocher have served suspensions just for informal associations with gamblers,  not actually involving placing bets or receiving money.

But cockfighters so far have enjoyed a free pass,  in effect.  No major league player,  coach,  manager,  umpire,  or other official has ever been suspended for cockfighting.

This may in part be because cockfighting before 2008 remained legal in at least some states,  though illegal in most states since even before the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789.

But cockfighting has been legal in any state that had Major League Baseball only in 1998,  when the Arizona Diamondbacks concluded their first season one month before Arizona voters banned cockfighting by ballot initiative.

Deference to Dominican players?

Major League Baseball may have remained tolerant of players’ participation in cockfighting in deference to the laws and customs of Latin American nations,  from which come about 30% of the present professional baseball talent pool,  half of them from the Dominican Republic,  where cockfighting allegedly rivals baseball as the national pastime.

But the January 12,  2026 Brooklyn federal court proceedings suggest Major League Baseball can either crack down hard on cockfighting participation now,  or bury its collective head in the cock ring sand at risk of corruption to an extent not seen since eight players including Shoeless Joe Jackson allegedly threw the 1919 World Series,  several of them admittedly taking bribes from gamblers.

Recounted New York Daily News reporter John Annese on January 12,  2026,  soon after court proceedings ended for the day,  “A gambler buddy of Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase swears that Brooklyn prosecutors have it wrong when they say he conspired with the Major League Baseball player to fix pitches — the two were talking about rooster fights,  not baseball games,  the pal said.”

“Emmanuel has a rooster-fighting operation”

To be noted is that betting on baseball games is illegal under Rule 21 only within the structure of professional baseball.  Anyone else may bet on baseball games without fear of penalty.

Betting on cockfights,  within the U.S.,  is flat-out illegal for anyone.

Continued Annese,  “The gambler,  identified in the indictment against Clase and fellow Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz as Bettor-1,  made the statement in a sworn affidavit,  filed by Clase’s lawyers as part of a motion to force prosecutors to disclose more of the evidence against the baseball duo.

Claimed Bettor-1,  “While I never discussed baseball gambling with Emmanuel in any way,  I did discuss betting on rooster fighting with him.  In the Dominican Republic,  gambling on roosters is completely legal and Emmanuel has a rooster fighting operation.

“Paid people who run his rooster operation”

“At times,”  admitted Bettor-1,  “I watched these legal rooster fights on Facebook and placed bets on which rooster would win. At times,  I paid money to people associated with Emmanuel in the Dominican Republic who run his rooster operation,  either to cover bets or expenses related to the roosters.  This money was only related to rooster fighting and had nothing to do with gambling on baseball.”

Rule 21 may furnish Clase and Ortiz with an alibi,  since cockfighting is legal in the Dominican Republic.

On the other hand,  if either Clase or Ortiz gave Bettor-1 money to bet on cockfights,  that constituted Bettor-1 accepting,  placing,  or handling “wagers on sporting events from members of the public as part of a gaming operation that is unlawful in the jurisdiction in which the bets are accepted.”

Bribes to throw balls instead of strikes

That may be a lesser violation of Rule 21 than Clase and Ortiz are accused of,  but only by degrees,  since Clase and Ortiz are accused of a variation of the same offense that got Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven other White Sox players remembered as the “Black Sox” banned for life.

“Clase and Ortiz are accused of taking bribes to throw balls instead of strikes and coordinating with bettors who placed ‘prop bets’ on individual pitches through online gambling platforms,”  explained Annese.

Argued Michael Ferrara,  defense attorney for Clase,  “The government,  in the indictment,  seems to contend that certain,  but not all,  references to roosters or horses [in intercepted texts or emails] are coded messages meant to disguise the discussion of baseball-gambling related activities.”

Ferrara argues,  Annese summarized,  “that without disclosures explaining which messages are supposed to be in code,  the defense won’t be able to meaningfully sift through the thousands of messages they get through the discovery process.”

Risking baseball money for gambling money

Clase,  28,  a three-time American League All-Star,  led American League relief pitchers in both games finished and games saved in 2022,  2023,  and 2024.

Reportedly paid $4.9 million in 2025,  Clase is currently under a contract guaranteeing him $20 million over five years,  including 2026 plus 2027 and 2028 should the Guardians choose to keep him.

Ortiz,  26,  a Major League Baseball player since 2022,  but not a star,  was reportedly paid $747,000 in 2025,  more than 70 times the average Dominican per capita income.

“Over two years,”  reported Mark Suleymanov for the New York Post,  “bettors tied to Clase pocketed over $400,000,  with the right-hander allegedly funding the scheme and receiving ‘bribe and kickback payments.’

Hanged with toilet paper

“At one point,  the alleged plan went awry,”  Suleymanov wrote of the Brooklyn federal court testimony,  when, during a May 28,  2025 game against the Dodgers,  batter Andy Pages swung and missed at a pitch Clase purportedly intended to throw outside the strike zone — costing himself and the co-conspirators thousands of dollars.

“Approximately 20 minutes after Bettor-1 lost the wager on May 28, 2025,”  Suleymanov continued,  “Bettor-1 sent a text message to the defendant Emmanuel Clase a gif image of a man hanging himself with toilet paper,”  the indictment states.

“Even though the Cleveland Guardians won the game,  approximately 10 minutes later,  Clase responded to Bettor-1 with a gif image of a sad puppy dog face.”

Ortiz,”allegedly joined the plot in June 2025,  with bettors winning at least $60,000 in June from gambling on pitches he’d communicated,  per the indictment,”  wrore Suleymanov.

The FIGHT Act “would directly address betting on foreign cockfights”

“Sad,”  agreed Animal Wellness Action representative Kevin Chambers.  “But a good opportunity for us to point out that the [federal] FIGHT Act would directly address betting on foreign cockfights online.”

“The FIGHT Act, H.R. 3946 and S. 1454,”  elaborated Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle,  “would stop the multi-billion-dollar enterprise of online gambling on dogfights and cockfights.  In 2022, more than $13 billion was wagered on cockfights staged in the Philippines alone.”

A comparable sum is believed to have been wagered on cockfights in the Dominican Republic,  but hard data is unavailable.

The FIGHT Act would also “authorize courts to seize from convicted animal fighters the barns and trailers and other property they convert into dens of violence where fighting animals are sent to die,”  Pacelle continued.

Further,  Pacelle said,  the FIGHT Act would “Halt the smuggling of fighting roosters by the U.S. Postal Service,  which is used every year to ship tens of thousands of birds to their deaths in staged knife fights,”  both within the U.S. and abroad.”

We warned Major League Baseball

ANIMALS 24-7 on March 1,  2016 offered Major League Baseball an ignored heads-up about players involved in cockfighting in Cockfighters in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2015,  ANIMALS 24-7 pointed out,  three-time Cy Young Award-winning former pitcher Pedro Martinez,  now age 54,  has apparently not been asked much lately about his past involvement in cockfighting.

Neither has Juan Marichal,  88,  the fellow former pitcher and native of the Dominican Republic who in 1983 became the first Latin American player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The world seems to have forgotten that in February 2008 both Martinez and Marichal were shown in YouTube video releasing roosters to fight to the death at the Coliseo Gallistico de Santo Domingo,  in the Dominican capital.

No statements against cockfighting

Because cockfighting is legal in the Dominican Republic,  Martinez and Marichal have neither been charged nor convicted of any offense related to cockfighting.

But despite their associations with gamblers on cockfighting,  which is illegal in the U.S. and Canada,  both remain not only welcome but frequent honored guests at Major League Baseball games and other events.

Though Martinez and Marichal both tried to distance themselves somewhat from cockfighting after the videos showing them at Coliseo Gallistico de Santo Domingo became public,  neither has ever spoken forcefully against cockfighting,  for instance by recommending that the Dominican Republic should make it illegal.

And nobody much seems to care anymore,  even though the YouTube videos stirred a brief international controversy after their existence was exposed by Jorge L. Ortiz of USA Today on February 7,  2008.

“This is part of our Dominican culture”

Both Martinez and Marichal disavowed the implication of the video that they were cockfighting contestants,   but neither apologized for his participation.

“I understand that people are upset,  but this is part of our Dominican culture and is legal in the Dominican Republic,”   said Martinez in a statement distributed by his team at the time,  the New York Mets.   “I was invited by my idol Juan Marichal to attend the event as a spectator,  not as a participant.”

Marichal said he and Martinez were invited because of their celebrity,  and neither one owned the roosters they released,   reported Ortiz.

“We agreed to release them,  and that’s all that happened,”  Marichal asserted.   “I have great respect for the animal protection society and for animals,  and I didn’t do anything inappropriate.”

Marichal told Ortiz that he is a cockfighting fan,  but said that Martinez is not.   “But he was invited that day,  just like I was,”  Marichal acknowledged.   “It was a world championship, attracting cockfighters from 20 nations,  that was celebrated in our country,”  said Marichal.

Reasons for skepticism

Katie Thomas of The New York Times found reason to doubt Martinez’s and Marichal’s stories.

“The manager of a cockfighting club in Martínez’s neighborhood said that Martínez was a regular there,”   reported Thomas on February 13,  2008,   “and that he had also been a guest at the Club Gallistico de San Martín.  Martínez visited the Manoguayabo arena two weeks ago,  said the manager,  Raul Mendes Vargas.”

“Marichal also raises fighting roosters,  several cockfighting enthusiasts said.  Marichal oversaw cockfighting when he served as his country’s minister of sports in the 1990s,”   Thomas noted.   “His tenure included a national scandal over alleged improper deals involving sports equipment.”

“It is no secret to anybody that Marichal likes cockfighting,”  Club Gallistico de San Martín manager José Delio Jiménez told Thomas.

“He’s a professional cockfighter,”  elaborated Manoguayabo Gallera visitor Ramón Dario Campusano.   “A professional baseball player,  and a professional cockfighter.”

Aramis Ramirez

Thomas found other prominent Dominican ballplayers were involved in cockfighting.   For example,   then-Chicago Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramírez,  an 18-year major leaguer and three-time All Star,  now retired,  “was pictured in a Dominican cockfighting magazine,  En La Traba,  with several roosters that he raises for fighting,”  Thomas wrote.

Reporting to what turned out to be his last spring training,  in Mesa,  Arizona,  soon after the Martinez-and-Marichal story broke,  Ramírez declared that he would not discuss cockfighting with U.S. reporters,  but eventually said he should not have to defend his interest in it.

Marichal,  when he reached the major leagues with the San Francisco Giants in 1960,  was not yet known as a cockfighter.  But his longtime teammate and mentor Felipe Alou,  then in his third year with the Giants,  had been a cockfighter in his early teens,  following his father’s example,  and by his early thirties seemed to regret his participation.

“There’s no place for cockfighting” said Felipe Alou

“At that time in our country,”   Felipe Alou told co-author Herm Weiskopf in his 1967 autobiography My Life & Baseball,   “almost everyone kept roosters,  or wished they could.  I had a rooster of my own.  He won two matches,   but was run over by a pickup truck.  Instead of a funeral,  he was given a roasting and served for dinner.  I took one look at the remains of my once-proud,  once-honored rooster,  began to cry,  and left the table without eating.”

Felipe Alou broke into professional baseball in Lake Charles, Louisiana,  and played for Phoenix,  Arizona before joining the Giants.

Cockfighting was still legal and openly practiced in both Louisiana and Arizona,  as in the Dominican Republic,  but Felipe Alou never returned to it.

“There’s no place for cockfighting in the States,”  Felipe Alou concluded,  40 years before cockfighting was actually abolished by law in all states.

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